Sorry, had to lie some more (forgot it was Mother's Day and was up all night working on something for my grandmother, and last night Chicken Smoothie was all whack). I have it completed, though!
Here she is!There's a ton of empty space to the left of her, resulting in one of her paws being cut off, but this is because she originally had a large tail. I ended up choosing a bobtail in the end. Also, I know there's a lot of drawing mistakes and colouring mistakes, but since this is a design competition I didn't focus on them as much.
Her design is primarily for terrain similar to the African savanna. Prey animals almost exclusively see only in black and white, so her striped legs work similar to a tiger's and a zebra's, helping her blend in with tall grass. While she lacks as many spots as a cheetah, the black marks serve the same function: to "blend" together in a prey animal's eyes in the blistering heat, helping mask her body, turning her the same grey of the grass surrounding her, cloaking her in a haze mirage.
The leopard-esque spots on her back serve a slightly different function, helping her in areas that have tree covering, as she was bred to be a bit versatile. The spots and leopard marks on her back help with the filtering light from overheard trees.
Each of her caramel coloured eyes has a black spot above it, similar to the brown of a rottweiler's. She also has a horizontal black line beneath her eyes which serves a function mimicking a tearline or football player's grease, helping block the glare of the open sun.
Her tail was bred to be a stump since although tails are ideal as rudders to make changing direction easier in a full run, the traditional heavy fur that wolves carry on their tail proved too difficult to breed out, and it was decided that the absence of a tail would serve her better.
That's about it, I think! (: